Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a tragic, passionate, and forbidden love triangle, that takes place in 20th century New England town. I have read The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, so I was excited to read another one of her works. Ethan Frome has been on my reading list for a while. I am glad to have finally crossed it off the list.
Ethan Frome is not a full-length novel, it’s more like a longer novella. The book begins with a stranger coming to the remote village town of Starkfield in New England. The stranger sees Ethan Frome and is curious about the person. There is something different about how he carries himself, which makes the stranger curious. Then, slowly he starts unraveling the story of Ethan Frome’s past and why he is the way he is now. The beginning with its gloomy landscape descriptions and a stranger coming to town, getting curious about the main character, it gave me Wuthering Heights vibes.
Ethan Frome’s character seems very mysterious from the beginning. As a reader, we get to understand and know about him through the narrator in the beginning. Ethan is struggling with his farm and is trapped in a loveless marriage with his ailing wife Zeena. His wife is unwell, which makes it difficult to do her chores around the house. Mattie Silver is Zeena’s cousin, who comes to stay with the Fromes to help Zeena around the house. Ethan starts feeling affectionate towards Mattie. She represents everything he feels he missed out on in life. They start to get close.
This love triangle between Ethan, his wife, and her cousin is quite intense. There is tension in the air especially when Zeena is suspicious about Mattie and Ethan’s budding closeness. Ethan falls for Mattie, but he constantly struggles with guilt. Once Mattie returns his affection too; it makes things further difficult for them. When Mattie is leaving Starkfield, Ethan and she are spending their last moments together, but the day ends on a terrible note. I won’t talk too much about it because it completely surprised me, and it is better to not give spoilers about it. But the story ends tragically for this trio.
The underlying theme of the novel is about being trapped, especially by circumstance. Ethan has been forced to take decisions based on circumstance. First, for his parents, he has to let go of his educational aspirations. He marries Zeena out of obligation because she took care of his ailing mother with Zeena falling sick eventually too. Mattie is bubbly and full of life. She has nowhere to go and no relatives. Ethan knows it is wrong, but he can’t help falling for Mattie. Though Matties doesn’t verbalize her feelings towards him, she shows her affection through her actions and behavior.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a tragic story. Ethan feels trapped and helpless almost all the time. He struggles financially, in his marriage, with Mattie, and emotionally too. The story is fast-paced, but it gets heavy. The tension and the emotions get to you, so I needed small breaks in reading. It is a tragedy. It is an interesting novel, I enjoyed it, but it was much sadder than I had anticipated.
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